controlo móvel de fronteira
Published 4 November 2026, 03:07
controlo móvel de fronteira (mobile border check)
A document check that the police carry out not at a border crossing but inside the country: at a coach terminal, at a railway station, on a train. There is no internal border control in the Schengen area: under the Schengen Borders Code, internal borders can be crossed anywhere without checks. But the code does allow police checks inside the country, provided that in substance they are not equivalent to border control: they are not systematic and are not based solely on the fact that a person has crossed a border.
Where you come across it. A coach or train journey with a change in Lisbon or Porto; a document check on someone arriving on a flight from another EU country.
This is not border control and not a new obligation: the rules on staying in the country do not change because of such a check. But the check is based on the document you have with you, so on such journeys you should carry your título de residência or, if you do not have it yet, your passport and proof of your application to AIMA. On 13.09.2026 the head of UNEF told the Lusa news agency that such checks would become more frequent at the main coach terminals and railway stations in the Lisbon and Porto metropolitan areas.
Official website: psp.pt